Swings
Swings are performers who do not have one specific role in the show, instead they understudy the ensemble roles. Cats has run between having no swings, but named ensemble characters who can be cut from the show should the performer need to understudy a more prominent role, to running with 4-5 swings, to having more swings backstage than performers onstage - the Hamburg production at one point listed 27 swings to 22 characters onstage. In general theatre terms, swings cover ensemble roles while the ensemble understudy principal roles, leading to a "domino effect" as three or four people move roles to cover one principal absence. However in the case of Cats, certainly in productions with a larger number of swings, the swings often cover principal roles as well as ensemble. Sometimes in Cats the swings have their own distinctive costumes and character names. London Swings In the early years of the Original London production, there was an ensemble of un-named kitten characters, some of whom grew into named roles and others became swing costumes. Characters were cast strictly to height, the adults being notably taller than the kittens. This led to issues with the swings, as often a short swing would need to cover a tall character or vice versa. Each of the six swings had a distinctive costume. The three female swings have readily identifiable markings - the tall girl looks somewhat like a pale Cassandra, often called "Greycat" or "Nameless Brown Queen/NBQ" depending on the colouring of her costume which varied from silver to tan. One looks similar to Jemima but with much less colour and more white on her body, sometimes called "Almost Jemima/AJ". The last swing looks rather like Victor, a dark brown Tabby, sometimes known as "Tabbygirl". The Swings usually featured in the photocall for the brochure in the big group shots until the late 1990s. However Summer Strallen, a swing wearing NBQ, featured in the 2001 photos. London Group 4.jpg|NBQ above/right of Rumpleteaser UK8906 41 NBQ.jpg|NBQ UK Tour 1989 L0102 NBQ Summer.jpg|Summer Strallen as NBQ, 2001 L9011 swing Beth Robson.jpg|Beth Robson as AJ, London 1990 UK8906 42 Tabbygirl.jpg|Tabbygirl UK Tour 1989 Kitten Design AJ.jpg|"Kitten" design, Swing "AJ" Kitten Design 3 NBQ.jpg|"Kitten" design, swing "NBQ" / "Greycat" The three male swings are harder to identify, as their unitard markings varied enormously and sometimes looked very like the ensemble boys. Their wig designs were more constant however. The first of the boys has very defined patches in his makeup, and his unitard often resembles Admetus however he's a kitten size. The second sometimes resembles a male Etcetera, a calico male (which in real cats is a genetic anomaly, Calico cats are 99.9% female), with strong orange and grey stripes, and a strong orange and a black patch in his bangs. The last male swing is a tall boy often in caramel colours, and can be mistaken for Victor. L9608 swing5.jpg|Patches, London 1996 L9608 swing4.jpg|Calico, London 1996 L9608 swing3.jpg|Caramel, London 1996 L8806 39 Swing.jpg|Calico, London 1988 L9011 33 Swing.jpg|Calico, London 1990 L9211 34 Swing.jpg|Calico, London 1992 L8709 10 Swing.jpg|Patches, London 1987 L9211 39 Swing.jpg|Caramel, London 1992 Makeup Swing Boy.jpg|Patches Makeup chart Kitten Design 2.jpg|"Kitten" design used for swing - "Patches" Australian Swings The Australian production, and subsequent productions modelled on it, has names for all the swings, which can cause confusion when comparing to other productions. Admetus, Carbucketty, Electra, Etcetera, Exotica, George, Grumbuskin, Jemima, Jonathan, Murad, Noilly Pratt, Olivia, Quaxo and Victor have all been used as names for swings. China Grumbuskin 1.jpg|Grumbuskin, China 2012 Electra01.jpg|Mischana Dellora-Cornish as Electra, Australia 2009 Backstage80.jpg|Erin James as Olivia, Australia 2010 Jemima01.jpg|Jemima, China 2012 Carbucketty04.jpg|Carbucketty, China 2012 George03.jpg|George, China 2012 Noily02.jpg|Noily Pratt, China 2012 Quaxo03.jpg|Quaxo, China 2012 Bill02.jpg|Bill Bailey, China 2012 Etcetera02.jpg|Etcetera, China 2012 Murad06.jpg|Murad, China 2012 Category:Chorus Cat